Are whole fruits a better source of nutrients than juice?
The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend that a majority of our daily fruit servings come from whole fruit. But most Americans are not meeting current recommendation for fruit and vegetable consumption and are missing out on valuable nutrients. For many people, drinking a glass of 100 percent juice is an easy and convenient way to help reach those goals, with just a half-cup serving of juice providing the equivalent of a full serving of fruit. In addition, fruit juices also provide substantial contributions of several nutrients in higher amounts in the diet than do whole fruits, including vitamin C, folate and potassium. Moreover, 100 percent fruit juice contains many naturally occurring phytonutrients that have disease-preventative and health promoting potential. Does fruit juice have a lot of sugar and calories? There are no added sugars in 100 percent juice – just the natural sugars found in whole fruit. In addition, fruit juice is considered a “nutrient dense” beverage, meaning that,
